Italian Lemon Almond and White Chocolate Cake is so moist and lemony with white chocolate as a secret ingredient that adds a luxury smoothness to the dense crumb. This Italian Lemon Almond and White Chocolate Cake is a complete winner! Delicious, moist and utterly fantastic as an easy to make cake that completely delivers. 
We made this cake for a simple and delicious summer luncheon with friends, serving our quick tuna and cannellini bean salad followed by this Italian lemon almond and white chocolate cake with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Everyone bar none asked for the recipe. With 12 guests, that was quite a compliment!
This cake is happy to be served with a coffee, packed for a picnic or served as an elegant finish to an Italian feast, perhaps with a little shot of limoncello liqueur on the side.
Gluten free
Italian Lemon Almond and White Chocolate Cake is gluten free. Made with almond flour (almond meal) it’s a wonderfully moist cake, with a slightly dense crumb.
Almond topping
We have adapted this Italian lemon, almond and white chocolate cake to add a crunchy, thin almond praline topping that adds a light crunch along with the moist cake. You can absolutely leave the almond topping from the recipe and still have a delicious dessert. 
Freezing
Italian Lemon Almond and White Chocolate Cake will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days after baking and freezes very well for several months. We do not recommend freezing the cake if you have added the almond praline topping.
Check out some more fabulous lemon desserts
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When we first came across this recipe we doubted the simplicity of the recipe and the wow factor it would deliver. Many family and friends have enjoyed this lemon curd sponge roulade and gone home with the recipe and in turn shared the wow of this cake far and wide.
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We came across this little winner on the net and immediately knew we had to bake it. We actually made it in a food processor and the mixture resembles a dough rather than a pouring consistency batter.
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What’s your favourite lemon cake recipe?
We would love to hear from you in the comments below when you make this outstanding Italian Lemon Almond and White Chocolate Cake.
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Italian Lemon Almond and White Chocolate Cake
This moist, lemony Italian lemon cake has the option of having a toffee almond topping. Delicious with, or without the topping.
Ingredients
Cake
- 350g almond flour (almond meal) -12 ounces
- 200g white chocolate chopped (7 ounces) - we used 2 blocks Lindt extra silky white chocolate
- 2 tablespoons full cream milk or cream
- 180g butter softened (6 ounces)
- 130g castor sugar (4 1/2 ounces)
- 3 tablespoons lemon zest
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract - optional
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 100g slivered almonds (3 1/2 ounces)
Almond Praline Topping
- 45 gm sliced almonds
- 90 gm butter (3 1/4 ounces)
- 7 1/2 tablespoons castor sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons plain flour (all-purpose flour)or gluten free plain flour
Instructions
Cake
- preheat oven to 350 f (175c)
- grease and line base 10 1/2 inch or 27cm of springform pan with baking paper
- combine chocolate and milk and gently melt over double boiler or microwave till melted
- set chocolate aside to cool
- beat butter with sugar till light, white and fluffy (around 3 minutes)
- add lemon zest, egg yolks, and extract if using till well combined
- now add almond flour (almond meal), melted chocolate and lemon juice
- beat until combined
- add slivered almonds
- in a separate bowl beat egg whites till soft peak
- fold egg whites through mixture gently till combined
- spoon batter into cake tin and smooth top
- bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and skewer comes out clean
- remove cake from oven
- turn oven up to 400 f (200 c)
- spread almond topping evenly over cake
- return cake to oven for 5 minutes
- keep an eye on the almonds as you only want them to go golden ( 4-5 minutes)
- remove cake from oven
- run a knife around sides of cake tin
- allow to cool completely in the tin
- release sides of tin
- slide cake onto a serving plate
- serve and enjoy!
Almond topping
- mix all topping ingredients together in a small saucepan over medium heat
- stir constantly with a flat spoon or spatular as the mixture catches easily
- allow the mixture to boil and bubble for a minute until the sugar has dissolved
- pour over the cake while still hot
- spread over top of cooked cake until you have an even layer then return to the cake to the oven until golden (5 minutes)
Notes
- cake freezes well
- almond topping is optional
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 558Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 66mgSodium 35mgCarbohydrates 107gFiber 4gSugar 10gProtein 16g
Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.
17 comments
And well worth the effort it was! It makes a nice size cake and it’s lovely and moist with a hint of lemon, but the cherry on the top is the lovely almond toffee topping. Everyone loved it so this will be a regular bake for me.
I’m also grateful that you give the ingredients in grams as I prefer to weigh my ingredients when baking.
Hi Alma, so pleased you made and enjoyed the cake. It’s a delicious and popular cake. Unfortunately I can’t change the star rating but thanks for letting us know. Jo and Jen
I gave it 5 stars but it reverted to 3. Please change it to 5 if possible.
I tought it was verry difficult to spread the topping thinly and evenly becouse of the butter i think. Any tips?
Hi Anne, the almond topping has to be hot so it spreads evenly. Perhaps try to have the topping ready just as you bring the cooked cake from the oven so it doesn’t reduce too much or become toffee. Would love to hear how you get on making this delicious cake again. Regards Jo and Jen
I made this for a friend who requires gluten free food at a book club get together and EVERYONE raved about it and asked for the recipe. I am having a Moroccan themed dinner party coming up soon and I wondered if I was to substitute the lemon for orange whether it would be as delicious and I could get away with it being somewhat middle eastern inspired! 🙂
Hi Lee, we would not hesitate to substitute oranges for the lemons for this delicious cake recipe. If you can get hold of some good quality orange blossom water, which is the clear, perfumed by-product of the distillation of fresh bitter-oranges for their essential oil, use that instead of the optional lemon extract. Add it drop by drop as it can be very strong. or leave it out altogether. We would love to hear how you get on with your orange cake. Regards Jen and Jo
In the pictures, the almonds appear sliced not slivered? I’ve bought slivered, but now I’m questioning it?
Hi Kristi, you are correct about the slivered almonds, this photo is an updated shot of the cake, in this case we used sliced almonds. Both slivered and sliced work, however it will appear different. Sorry we didn’t make the adjustment to the ingredients and thank you for bringing this to our attention. Hope you enjoy the cake and we would love to hear what you think. Enjoy. Jo and Jen
I substituted Erythritol for sugar, orange for lemon and dark chocolate for white chocolate. The flavour is awesome! When you suggest the oven temperature, are you suggesting a convection oven or bottom heat only oven please?
Hi Greg, the oven temperature is for bake (bottom heat only). Love how you switched the recipe around, the combination of orange and dark chocolate always works and the Erythritol makes it keto friendly 🙂 Gotta like that! Thanks for sharing with us.
Hi, this looks divine, can it be made a day in advance?
Hi Bobbie, this cake is a lovely moist cake so can easily be made in advance. Regards Jo and Jen
Quick question! Almond meal or almond flour? I always understood these were 2 different things. I’m assuming the flour is just meal more finely ground? Which is preferable to use in this recipe? I would have thought they would weigh differently? Thank you!
Hello Barb, the recipe uses almond meal which is available readily at Coles and Woolies in Australia. We’ve written for the American market using the term almond flour/ almond meal as it’s our understanding that the American market calls almond meal, almond flour.
This is a superb cake and would love to hear from you once you make it. Kind regards, Jo and Jen
Hi, I haven’t made this cake yet as just seen it and am away at the moment. Just wanted to say how grateful I am to find the recipe in grams or ounces instead of cups. So much easier for all of us from the UK who are used to weighing out our ingredients. Thanks
Hi Cathy, our pleasure. It’s the only way to bake. Kind regards, Jo and Jen